Pointing the finger at parliamentary scrutiny

Context: Legislative scrutiny of bills through committees results in more comprehensive, representative and acceptable laws and lack of it results in dissatisfaction and non-acceptance as happening in case of farm laws.

Parliamentary committees: An effective tool for legislative scrutiny

• Historical background:
  • British Parliament: following it since the 16^th
  • Colonial period: Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms introduced it, and the Central Legislative Assembly had set up three committees: Committee on Petitions relating to Bills, Select Committee of Amendments of standing orders and Select Committee on Bills.
  • Post-independence: Prior to the formation of Standing Committees, the Parliament used to appoint select committees and joint select committees for detailed scrutiny of important legislations.
• Process followed:
  • Rules of the Houses provides that speaker/chairman has the discretion to whether send a bill to a standing committee or not.
  • If sent, the committee does detailed scrutiny of the concerning bill and sends their recommendations on improvements to be made in the Bills to the Houses.
  • While undertaking such scrutiny, the committees invite various stakeholders to place their views before them, resulting in more representative laws.
• Benefits:
  • A tool of consensus making: resulting in deepening of parliamentary democracy and helps in getting expert views on the matter as parliamentarians are considered layman.
  • Improves the pieces of legislation: through detailed scrutiny by various committees.
    • E.g. The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Bill, The Seeds Bill, 2004, the Companies (Amendment) Bill, the Information Technology Bill, and the Goods and Services Tax Bill, The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill.
  • Capacity to harmonise contradictions: Members work in non-party fashion in these committees, hence less prone to vested political interests.
• Concerns:
  • Misuse of discretionary powers by presiding authority by nor sending important bills to committees for detailed scrutiny.
  • Adversarial politics: has resisted the government from introducing the critical bills to the committees.

Conclusion: Systems of Parliament are inclusive, and these parliamentary committees provide a platform to members to rise above party line and work towards formulating sound laws.